600-Mile March To Victory

On August 27, 2006, on North Maple Avenue, Basking Ridge, New Jersey, these hearty and happy reenactors were marching on to victory in Virginia. This summer marks the 225th anniversary of the 600-mile march from Rhode Island to Virginia that led to the siege at Yorktown and ended with the spectacular military victory that finally convinced the British to leave the old colony. The end of the Revolutionary War came two years later.

“It’s a singular event in American history — that you have thousands of troops of an allied power on American soil,” said historian Robert Selig, who has worked with the National Park Service and the New Jersey Historic Trust in researching the routes.

The story is recounted by the Star-Ledger newspaper in “In the Footsteps of Our Forefathers” BY KRISTEN ALLOWAY. She wrote that “The Revolution happened in your backyard, Even if it was just for a few days in 1781 and 1782.” INDEED, it is true for me, as I live very near the well marked route that Rochambeau and his French army travelled on their way to Yorktown. See Washington-Rochambeau Route, 2005.
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South Boston Soldier

General George Washington took advantage of the location of Dorchester Heights during the seige of Boston and was able to eventually drive out the British. This beautifully manifested image is from a re-enactment in South Boston in March of 2005, where an original cannon from that campaign was displayed.

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British Retreat Route

Church Street — Middletown, New Jersey

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Last Man of the Revolution

Private Samuel Downing has gone down in history as one of “The Last Men of the Revolution”.

According to descendants, at the time this photograph was made in 1864, Samuel Downing, was a centurian, and one of the six living soldiers from the Revolutionary War. This portrait of the old soldier was made by famed Civil War-era photographer Matthew Brady.

“DOWNING, SAMUEL” is a documented DAR Patriot Ancestor, #A034292. He was baptised on 1 December 1764, at NEWBURYPORT, ESSEX CO, MASSACHUSETTS and died on 18 February 1867, at EDINBURGH, SARATOGA CO, NEW YORK. He served as a Private from NEW HAMPSHIRE and received a pension for his services, #S40055. Samuel and Eunice GEORGE, his wife, lived in this house, and are buried in this cemetery.

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Captain Molly Corbin

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The grave of Margaret “Captain Molly” Corbin (1751-1800) is at West Point, New York at the side of the U.S.M.A. Chapel. When the British attacked Fort Washington in 1776, she was wounded in action while substituting for her fallen husband who lay at her side. For her heroism in battle the Congress awarded her a pension. Today, her memorial which was erected in 1926, by the New York Daughters of the American Revolution serves as inspiration for female cadets at all of the military academies. Margaret Corbin at Wikipedia.

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First Washington Monument

The very first memorial to President George Washington was erected in Baltimore, Maryland and now stands in Mount Vernon Square. I remember it well from my high school days, as it stood at the top of Howard Street as I was walking to Western High School.

The 160 foot white marble tower was completed on July 4th, 1829. It depicts General Washington in 1783, as he resigned his commission from the Continental Army at the statehouse in Annapolis, Maryland. The tower was designed by Robert Mills, the new nation’s first American-born and American-educated architect, who nineteen years later, designed the most famous Washington Monument in Washington, DC.

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Yorktown Battlefield

Yorktown Victory Monument, Yorktown Battlefield at Yorktown, Virginia

“To declare independence is one thing, to achieve it is another. Here it was actually achieved…. The victory at Yorktown gave us that independence which the American patriots had boldly proclaimed to the world” ~~Dr. Ray Lyman Wilbur, Secretary of the Interior, 1931

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Father of the Constitution

Gravestone of James and Dolley (Payne) Madison, Montpelier, Virginia

James Madison (1751-1836), was best known as “The Father of the Constitution”, however he lost much of his well deserved prestige after becoming President. When he died in 1836, he was the last surviving signer of the U.S. Constitution. Dolly became the “Madonna” of 19th century America. See “The Dolly Madison Project”.

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Yorktown Memorial

Yorktown Victory Monument, Yorktown Battlefield at Yorktown, Virginia

Yorktown Battlefield was the site of the last major battle of the American Revolutionary War, a war that secured independence for the new United States and changed the course of world history.

In August 1781, the British army under General Charles Lord Cornwallis began fortifying Yorktown and Gloucester Point, located across the York River from Yorktown, to establish a naval base in Virginia. In nearby Williamsburg, the Marquis de Lafayette with a small army of Continental troops and Virginia militia, kept a watchful eye on Cornwallis’ activities. At the end of August, to Cornwallis’ surprise, a French fleet commanded by Admiral Francois De Grasse blockaded the Chesapeake Bay and the York River, preventing Cornwallis from escaping or being reinforced by sea. At the same time, General George Washington began moving his allied American and French forces from New York to Virginia. By the end of September, Washington’s army of 17,600 had surrounded Cornwallis’ 8,300 troops and laid siege to Yorktown leading to the surrender of Cornwallis on October 19, 1781. Upon hearing of their defeat, British Prime Minister Frederick Lord North is reputed to have said, “Oh God, it’s all over.” And it was. The Allied victory at Yorktown effectively ended the war. (The Yorktown Homepage)

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Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Square

Although Andrew Jackson’s most famous military service was during the War of 1812, it was the American Revolution which honed his intense dislike of the British. That war for independence took a horrendous toll upon the Jackson family.

Andrew was only nine years old when The Declaration of Independence was signed. As soon as he was thirteen he joined up with the Continentals as a courier. All three of the Jackson boys saw active duty military service. His older brother, Hugh Jackson, died after the Battle of Stono Ferry, South Carolina in 1779. In April of 1781, the remaining two Jackson brothers were taken as prisoners by the British. While in captivity a British officer ordered them to clean his boots, which both boys refused to do. The officer struck them with his sword and Andrew’s hand was cut to the bone and his face scarred for life.

The young boy never forgot this ill treatment at British hands. The future American General and President, Andrew Jackson, forever harbored a bitter resentment towards anything British.

During their two month imprisonment by the enemy, both brothers became infected with smallpox, from which Robert Jackson perished. Shortly thereafter, their mother, Betty Jackson, went to Charleston to nurse other American prisoners of war, where she was soon stricken with either ship fever or cholera and died. At age fourteen, Andrew Jackson found himself an orphan and an only child.

However heavy the burden of adversity was for the young unschooled Andrew, he triumphed, becoming an American legend as both a warrior and a president. Andrew Jackson is also historically known for being:

• The first president born in a log cabin.
• The first president nominated by a political party.
• The first president to ride on a railroad train.
• The first president victimized by an assassination attempt.
• The only president to have been a prisoner of war.
• The last president who was a veteran of the Revolutonary War.

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